Enchiridion preclare ecclesie Sarum (Paris: Germain Hardouyn, 1530)

A.2.11

A book fit for queens

Guiding the reader through their daily prayers, Books of Hours were popular Christian devotional books among the late medieval and early modern laity. This particularly exquisite Book of Hours is full of decorative features and full-page illustrations. The printed book was deliberately made to look like a late medieval handwritten book. The fonts look vaguely similar to some Gothic scripts. The text includes decorated initials and the typical abbreviations used by medieval scribes. Even faint ruling in
red was added to the pages as a purely decorative element in a nod to medieval manuscripts. The illusion is reinforced by the use of parchment instead of paper. This luxury product is the work of masters in their trade. The Hardouyn brothers were expert book printers specialising in the production of Books of Hours.

Tradition has it that St John’s copy once belonged to Queen Mary of Modena (1658-1718), wife of James II. The earliest recorded connection with a Queen Mary appears in the travel accounts of Zacharias Konrad von Uffenbach (1683-1734), a German book collector who visited Oxford in 1710 (Quarrell & Quarrell, p. 59). It is not specified which Queen Mary, however. Eton College also holds a copy of this 1530 edition for which it lists previous ownerships by Mary I and Mary of Modena. Incidentally, both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, the first two wives of Henry VIII, owned copies of the 1528 edition of Hardouyn’s Book of Hours (Use of Salisbury), both printed on parchment and coloured by hand (McCaffrey). Hardouyn’s high-end products were thus certainly fit for queens and known at the English royal court.

The fine binding of St John’s copy in black-dyed morocco leather dates from the 17th century and is reminiscent of the bindings created by Samuel Mearne (1624-1683), the royal bookbinder under Charles II, James II’s younger brother. Alas, whether it really was Queen Mary’s book and how it came to St John’s remains a mystery.

Further Resources
Full digitization available at Digital Bodleian
Extensive blog post at our designated Special Collections website
(abbreviated version at St John’s College’s Library website)